Taking photos of classic computers.

[Michael Holley]

Over the past 5 years taking pictures of my SWTPC computers for my web site. 
I have found that a flat bed scanner takes excellent pictures of circuit 
board and other flat objects. The lighting is perfect. You can read the part 
numbers on the IC's. Most scanners (but not all) will focus on objects above 
the glass. My scanner is an Epson Perfection 1240U.

I have finally learned how to take good pictures of larger three dimensional 
objects. The key is lighting. I have a $200 Nikon Coolpix 3200 3 mega pixel 
camera. The built-in flash would often reflect off a surface or provide 
uneven lighting. I started using incandescent bulbs. That was better but the 
color was off and required touchup in Photoshop. There was still the problem 
of uneven lighting. I tired bouncing the light off of white poster board and 
that helped but it reduced the light on the subject. The answer was to get a 
photo umbrella. (I got a Photofelx RUT45 convertible umbrella, shoot-through 
or bounce. $40) I also bought some 250 watt photo lamps (type ECA) to use in 
a standard reflector. These have better color (3200 degrees.) The bulbs are 
about $4 each and are rated for 3 hours of life time. I use two lights for 
500 watts.

Here is a picture of my setup.
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/SA400/Photo_Setup_B.jpg

The backdrop is a roll of white background paper. A 12 foot 52 inch wide 
roll is about $30, I have had my roll for about 20 years.

You can see some of these photos here.
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/SA400/SA400_Index.htm


Michael Holley
www.swtpc.com/mholley